Happytown: Parent-trigger bill passes Florida House

Proponents say law would give parents more power over failing schools; opponents say it’s an attack on public schools

On the same day that the Florida House of Representatives was arguing about the legitimacy of 50,000 signatures for sick time in just one county, it was making a much larger stink in favor of the concerns of hundreds of parents signing a petition to turn their children’s public schools into corporate charter nightmares across the state – because, hypocrisy.

The so-called “parent trigger”bill cleared the House on a 68-51 vote after a prolonged debate that basically divined the obvious. Democrats see the move as a power grab for money-loving charter corporations, while Republicans continue to wrap themselves in the flag of “school choice” and reactionary democracy, even though not many parents seem to be clamoring for it. Though only 25 Florida schools currently boast the “F” grade that would allow the parental petition drives to shut them down, Democrats, according to the Associated Press, point to the more stringent rating system to be adopted next year that could raise that number to 150.

“This afternoon the Florida House turned a deaf ear to parents, teachers and education experts by passing the 2013 corporate trigger bill,” Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux said in a statement. “After being killed last year through bipartisan effort, this bill has been rammed through by the GOP and is nothing more than an attack on public schools while allowing for-profit, out-of-state corporations to syphon off Floridians’ tax dollars.”

The more Florida sucks, the more corporations stand to gain off of it. Or is it the other way around?